Best 2025 TV Shows for character development

#1 What It Feels Like For A Girl, Season 1
4.5

Character growth is messy and often painful, especially for Byron and Sasha. The strongest praise goes to the way the show lets people grow without making them instantly likable or...

Pros: story quality, main cast performance

Cons: audience appeal, age appropriateness

#2 IT: Welcome To Derry
4.0

Many critics connect with the layered fears, grief, and friendships, although some reviews find portions of the ensemble underwritten.

Pros: genre satisfaction, acting quality

Cons: writing quality, CGI quality

#3 Spartacus: House of Ashur
3.9

Achillia, Korris, Tarchon, and Ashur receive substantial praise for growth and added depth, especially as the season progresses. Critics who dislike the show argue some arcs arrive too quickly or...

Pros: franchise connection, character development

Cons: story quality, sexual content level

#4 Amadeus
3.9

The expanded format gives Mozart, Constanze, and Salieri more psychological space, but critics disagree on whether the supporting characters receive enough depth.

Pros: entertainment value, soundtrack quality

Cons: plot originality, season pacing

#5 Pluribus, Season 1
3.9

Carol is treated as a genuine character study rather than a simple mystery-box hero. Reviewers like how new layers emerge through isolation, grief, anger, and changing relationships.

Pros: acting quality, story quality

Cons: season pacing, character likability

#6 The Seduction
3.8

Isabelle’s transformation is often praised as believable, magnetic, and morally complex, but the supporting cast draws much weaker reactions. Several critics say other characters lack dimension or that some developments...

Pros: visual style, character development

Cons: faithfulness to source material, season pacing

#7 Emily in Paris season 5
3.8

Character development is one of the season’s biggest points of disagreement. Some see meaningful growth for Emily, Gabriel, Sylvie, and the friendships, while others think the characters remain shallow or...

Pros: character development, entertainment value

Cons: character balance, story quality

#8 The Beast In Me
3.7

Character work divides opinion: some see damaged, fully realized people with meaningful emotional movement, while others find the leads familiar, static, or insufficiently changed by the end.

Pros: bingeability, main cast performance

Cons: plot twists, writing quality

#9 Squid Game: The Challenge, Season 2
3.5

When the edit narrows its focus, relationships and finalist stories become easy to invest in. Other critics felt too many contestants remained thinly sketched or were introduced through interviews without...

Pros: emotional impact, plot originality

Cons: entertainment value, character likability

#10 The Witcher, Season 4
2.9

Development is uneven. Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri receive meaningful growth in some reviews, while others say rushed flashbacks and altered characterization fail to earn those changes.

Pros: action quality, villain quality

Cons: entertainment value, faithfulness to source material

#11 Summerwater, Season 1
2.2

Character development is mixed. A few performances and perspectives add layers, but many reviewers say the backstories are too thin or the characters too hard to care about.

Pros: suspense

Cons: entertainment value, story quality

#12 The Abandons
1.8

Character depth is a major weakness across the coverage. Reviewers frequently describe thin backstories, shallow arcs, neglected adoptees, and underwritten supporting players.

Pros: main cast performance, production design

Cons: character development, season pacing